Flynn Rider
Eugene Fitzherbert (better known as Flynn Rider) is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2010 animated feature film, Tangled. He is a former thief and the love interest of Rapunzel. Background Eugene Fitzherbert seemingly never knew his parents. He dreamt that they were fearless adventurers traveling the world to make names for themselves. Eugene remained hopeful that once they did, they would return to the orphanage and take him back. In the meantime, Eugene spent all of his time with his fellow orphans in the orphanage. His only companion at the time was his lifelong friend, Arnwaldo Schnitz. Every night, Eugene would read "The Tales of Flynnigan Rider", stories of a rich and dashing swashbuckler who had an abundance of thrilling adventures wherever he went. The more Eugene read it, the more he dreamed of a more audacious lifestyle and decided to break out of his orphan upbringing. Eugene eventually ventured out with Arnwaldo—now known as Lance Strongbow—and grew up into a dashing swashbuckler and gifted horseman under an alias taken from his childhood hero: Flynn Rider. With Lance by his side, Flynn became one of the most infamous thieves in all of Corona, making enemies at nearly every port. He would also plunder regions well beyond Corona, such as Italy, where he learned to speak Italian. Being drawn in more and more by his new ambition and becoming more and more aloof from the people around him, Flynn sought a solitary life of money and freedom, far away. He eventually lost contact with Lance, and formed partnerships with other criminals such as Stalyan and the Stabbington Brothers, though all alliances would end bitterly. Everything Flynn ever wanted, however, quickly lost its appeal in the days he met Rapunzel. When Flynn met the lonesome girl in a remote tower, he was quite irritated to be coerced into taking her to see the Festival of Lights at the kingdom so that he could get back a valuable stolen tiara she had hidden from him. As he spent time with her, he gained a respect for the headstrong young lady that became strong affection and caring. As Flynn cast aside his cares for treasure and solitude he realized his old dream had been replaced by a new one. Flynn fell completely in love with the lost princess and helped her reunite with her parents and reclaim her throne. Eugene went back to his birth name, stopped thieving, and married Rapunzel a few years later. The two are currently living happily ever after. Personality When first introduced, Flynn is presented as arrogant, backstabbing, and trouble-making. He unabashedly committed acts of thievery on the royal family of Corona, all to achieve a selfish lifelong goal of becoming as wealthy as humanely possible. Despite these antagonistic traits, Flynn viewed such acts as mere means to boost his ego which, at the start of the film, was comedically inflated, to the point where he would rely on his supposed charisma to sneak his way out of a potentially dangerous situation. As mentioned above, Flynn is also rather comedic, whether it's intentional or not. He has a peculiar relationship with the palace horse, Maximus, who he constantly finds himself at odds with throughout the film, being that they were highly different on the moral spectrum at the start of the film. Even so, they managed to form a meaningful partnership, and eventual friendship; initially for the sake of Rapunzel, though they were shown to have become fond of one another over time. Despite viewing himself as charming, a recurring situation involving Flynn includes the thief being looked down upon by other characters (such as the Pub Thugs or the palace guards) who would often perform acts that would purposely result in Rider's humiliation, such as having the portraits of his "Wanted" poster be depicted with cartoonishly large or unattractive noses, much to his annoyance. Despite all of this, Flynn's arrogance is revealed to provide a false sense of optimism as the thief is highly vulnerable and capable of showing and feeling legitimate emotion. This is seen after he meets and forms a relationship with Rapunzel. The princess' refusal to be fooled by Flynn's charisma, and genuine interest in his life and struggles, would be the first motivators to dropping the "Flynn Rider" persona, and accepting who he alluded to being in the orphanage, which was caring, starry-eyed, and selfless. Once his facade is dropped, and Eugene truly opens up to both Rapunzel, and himself, he is portrayed as a loving, loyal, and protective companion. For Rapunzel, he was willing to give up his life of thievery to remain by her side, in hopes of starting a new life for both himself, and the princess, believing they've both deserved second chances after facing experiences less than pleasant over the years. Unlike Gothel, Eugene viewed Rapunzel as a person, caring for her feelings, rather than her magical hair. In spite of being greedy at the start of the film, Rapunzel's magic was never a concern to him, nor did he once ponder on the thought of using her for her powers to obtain wealth. When those who attempt to do so came about, such as Gothel, Eugene takes action and becomes a fierce protector, willing to go against foes twice his size, if necessary. He also proved himself to be selfless in this instant, risking his life for Rapunzel's safety, despite being given the chance to leave a situation safely. Physical Appearance Flynn is of average height and build with fair skin, short dark brown hair, a scruffy goatee, and light brown eyes. As far as attire goes, Flynn regularly dons a turquoise vest with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, coupled with dark cream pants and brown bucket-top boots. He also wears a belt with a similar color scheme around his waist; connected to it is a miniature satchel. Trivia * During the movie's production Eugene was almost an actual Prince, like his fairy tale counterpart. He was originally intended to be a wayward prince hanging out with a group of bandits. Soon after he was designed to be a sort of "bandit prince" and was the leader of a group of rogues (the rogues themselves eventually became the Snuggly Duckling thugs). Soon he was conceived as a British farmer named Bastian, who was orphaned at a young age and forced into a life of thievery to survive, though he hated it. Disney almost went with using the design of Bastian until his voice actor, Zachary Levi was finally cast. * The character design of Flynn came from the process called the "hot man meeting" by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, during which they set up a meeting with all of the female employees of the studio in one room and asked them for their opinions of what made a man good-looking, in order to create Flynn's character design with features such as eye color, hair color and style and body type. Video footage showed concept art and photos of various male celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Gene Kelly, on the walls of the room. * Zachary Levi, the voice of Flynn Rider, auditioned for the role and got it with a British accent. Later, this idea was dropped and Levi read for the role with his own American accent instead. * Dan Fogler was the original choice to voice Flynn Rider. Clay Aiken was also considered for the role at one time. * Eugene's age has never been officially confirmed, though Nathan Greno admitted that he personally sees him as being about 24 years old, whereas the story writers see him as being younger than that. Byron Howard also stated that Eugene is about 24 years old.4 Nathan stated that early twenties is what they all agreed upon being his age5, though a canon age for Eugene has not been decided. * As a running gag, every time a wanted poster of Flynn is shown in the movie, his nose is drawn differently. * Eugene is the exact opposite of Mother Gothel. Unlike Gothel, he truly cares for Rapunzel and loves her whereas Gothel only loves Rapunzel for her hair, due to it being able to heal anything or anyone. Eugene's love for Rapunzel was declared when he sacrificed himself and freed her from Gothel's cruel and wicked ways. * One of Flynn Rider's original designs (seen in concept art), was used to help form Kristoff's appearance in Frozen. * Even though his real name is Eugene Fitzherbert, credits for other films and books keep his nickname Flynn Rider. ** According to a scratch reel, Eugene mentions that he was named after his father Eugene Fitzherbert Sr.6 * During renovations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios building, beginning in 2014, Flynn was one of the character silhouettes featured on the wall mural. * In "What the Hair?!", it is shown that Eugene prefers to be called by his actual name and not the "Flynn Rider" alias, as he corrected Varian (in a rather annoyed tone) when he referred to him as the latter. ** As seen in "Fitzherbert P.I.", the Captain of the Guards still refers to Eugene as "Rider", as do the Stabbington Brothers (as seen in "Cassandra v. Eugene"). This goes for anyone he's ever encountered in the past. * Rapunzel has considered giving Eugene a nickname like Fitz or Bert since she loves his nickname for her (Blondie), but she decided to keep calling him Eugene since people have called him Flynn Rider in his whole life.7 * Eugene notes in "Fitzherbert P.I." that he only attended school for three days. * In "Fitzherbert P.I.", Eugene notes that he traversed the world as a thief in the past; in during which, he outsmarted guards in numerous regions and became fluent in some foreign languages, such as Italian. * Captain Quaid of Vardaros was the first man to ever arrest Flynn and Lance. * Eugene is referenced in the Sofia the First special "The Curse of Princess Ivy". He is mentioned by Rapunzel when Amber tells her how she was cursed by stealing Sofia's amulet for a selfish want. Rapunzel tells Amber that she must prove that her love for her sister is worth more than anything just as Eugene did. Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Princes Category:Tangled Category:Tangled characters Category:Official Disney Princes Category:CGI Characters Category:German Category:European Category:Black Hair Category:Brown Eyes Category:Neutral characters Category:Heroes Category:Kings